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A PRELIMINARY RAILROAD SURVEY IN .
WISCONSIN IN 1857.
The following account of an ordinary summer survey¬ ing expedition contains nothing of excitement or adventure. The events narrated are Gommonj'jlace and the narrative does not furnish any contribution of value relating to contempora- neous knowledge of the conditions of life in Yasconsin; of the fauna and flora of the states of the climate of the re¬ gion, of of the geology of the parts which were traversed. The minor sufferings disclosed, such as working day after day in swampy regions, where occasional wadingi kept the clothes of the wador damp from morning till night; tho-working in wet weather when every leaf upon the shrubs and bushes through which we were forced to push contributed to our drenching; fee fro quo n^ failt-inaf to connect with our camp at nighty a Jt^t^yK^uy p.artly due to inadequacy of maps, partly to l<iok of rodds and partly perhaps to bad judgment, and finally^tl?^ tsxipible -pest ^ insects l*4«n^ were all of the same nature as those experienced by every hunter or fisherman who goes into our ?/oods on a carap-
(X-tf^ Stt/tfK >e<"^*i» ^ ^ Jft^n '
ing expedition. The fresh air, the out-of-door life,the beau-

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Electronic Publication Date

2005

Digital Identifier

TP061000

Description

Andrew McFarland Davis kept this diary of his experiences as a member of an 1857 surveying crew for a projected line of the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad. In it, he describes the changing terrain, working conditions, and mishaps encountered over four months in the field. A shorter, edited version published in 1911 is also presented on the Turning Points site, and by comparing the two readers can see how memory, desire, and the publishing process influence historical sources.

We believe that online reproduction of this material is permitted because its copyright protection has lapsed or because sharing it here for non-profit educational purposes complies with the Fair Use provisions of the U.S. Copyright Law. Teachers and students are generally free to reproduce pages for nonprofit classroom use. For advice about other uses, or if you believe that you possess copyright to some of this material, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org.

Electronic Publication Date

2005

Digital Identifier

TP061001

Owner

Wisconsin Historical Society Archives

Format

Text

Owner Collection

Main Stacks

Owner Object ID

SC 2228

Full Text

A PRELIMINARY RAILROAD SURVEY IN .
WISCONSIN IN 1857.
The following account of an ordinary summer survey¬ ing expedition contains nothing of excitement or adventure. The events narrated are Gommonj'jlace and the narrative does not furnish any contribution of value relating to contempora- neous knowledge of the conditions of life in Yasconsin; of the fauna and flora of the states of the climate of the re¬ gion, of of the geology of the parts which were traversed. The minor sufferings disclosed, such as working day after day in swampy regions, where occasional wadingi kept the clothes of the wador damp from morning till night; tho-working in wet weather when every leaf upon the shrubs and bushes through which we were forced to push contributed to our drenching; fee fro quo n^ failt-inaf to connect with our camp at nighty a Jt^t^yK^uy p.artly due to inadequacy of maps, partly to le